Yeah, that’s right. Some heartless d-bag saw a guy dying on the floor and couldn’t think of anything but to take a few measly and probably greasy $20s from the till.

This is the kind of desperation that most people read about in some Sub-Saharan dirt hole or Latin American bannana republic where kid soldiers roam the streets. THAT is the horrible situation on so many local streets.

And yes, sadly, there is a racial aspect to this story as well.

Don’t expect local media to trumpet the cause of the dead computer and electrical engineering student from Sri Lanka as much as the good looking JoCo kid killed when he was out on the town.

Both cases are tragic but a month from now you won’t be able to name the UMKC grad. But I digress.

What’s important is to acknowledge a basic disrespect for life in this murder. Sadly, in these cases the only response is even more denigrating (and mostly racist) chatter that only affirms the myth that some lives are more important than others. These reactionary statements are really just the other side of the coin and the same problem.

For years anti-crime activists and so many others have attempted to wrap their head around the problem of local urban violence concentrated in only a small area of the city. Most attempts to thwart abnormally high instances of homicide have failed. In the end, a simple and somewhat Conservative principle i.e. "Respect for life" in all of its forms is lost amid theorhetical and lame politically motivated solutions like the broken windows theory or similar nonsense.

In the meantime, the subject of Kansas City violence and murder marks yet another election cycle with candidates touting the same old tired ideas that have yet to show any real improvement or ability to save lives.

Here is some “racist chatter” for ya Tony.Some lives ARE more important than others and the quicker we quit pretending this isn’t true, the better off we all will be.

The low life puke who shot the Sri Lankan kid, his life has NO value. The puke who stepped over him, his life has NO value. The ‘flash mob’ thugs who run our streets with impunity granted by the fear of a scarlet “Raicst” letter, their lives have NO value.

These pukes should be eradicated early and often with prejudice. Execution, prison, Posse Comitatus, the method is not important, the expediton is. The quicker they are gone, the better off all Americans of all colors will be. Cut out the necrotic 5th column of MTV/BET/Hip-Hop-Holocaust of death with ANY means necessary.

Those so called “Americans” so de riguer in pants down under their ass who refuse to mainstream, take advantage of the opportunites (ever shrinking for ALL of us.) presented should suffer the consequences of their decsions, not aquire free coin of the realm for thier recalcitrance and stupidity.

The oh so popular melting pot millieu, the celebration of diversity, the exaltation of the anti-hero, whose numbers now easily exceeds the taxpayers required to support same, has got to stop.

The African American faceplant, the distinct lack of acceleration over the last 40 years is an African American problem.

Yesterday I went and heard a new generation of Black Kansas City candidates (Along with Tracy Ward) speak about issues in this city and the hopes they have for solving them. They, to me, embody what we all hope will be a better future for our city. Sharp, articulate and in touch, I think, if there is hope, maybe these new young people are what we can all hang our hat on.

There lives DO count. They participate, mainstream and are a positive force in this city.

The accusation of “Racism” is nothing more than a straw man move to cover a lack of ambition, criminal intent and obfuscate the arrogation of resources from society that can be used more productively.

Our inabiltiy to discuss racial problems with any reasonable discourse, is due, imo, to the fear of that same “Racist” accusation. Politician, captains of industry, presidents, butchers, bakers and candlestick makers live in abject fear of that accusation and it has to stop.

The reason we are all still talking about Brian Eustons’s murder, is because, it was a hate crime, pure and simple.

No one will mention it in the media, say what it really is.

This is a negative for black people.

That lack of dialogue, that excuse, that warranted, but unfair fear of social reprisal hurts black people.

Dialogue, truth and a real time look at facts as they exist now, not in some long ago Jim Crow era, now, is what will help end teh divides that keep us apart.